DUMAS, ALEXANDER 



DUMONT, PIERRE-ETIENNE-LOUIS. 



plan of lift should be adopted. In 1822, at the age of twenty, Duma* 

 found himself without any profession, with an aged invalid mother 

 and a titter to provide for. His father's rank in the army had not 

 secured any fortune to the family, because he had retained his 

 republican principles, and quarrelled with the emperor ; but General 

 Dumas hud been the fellow-soldier of mrriring generals and marshals, 

 and he had left behind him papers and documents in proof of that 

 affinity. Kuruuhed with these papers, and with several letters of 

 recommendation, the youthful aspirant went up to Paris, in the month 

 of March 1822, to seek his fortune. The passage in his autobiography 

 relating to this period is extremely interesting. One of the letters of 

 introduction was to General Foy, who at once took him by the hand, 

 and obtained an appointment fur him as supernumerary clerk at the 

 Palais Royal, on the establishment of the Duke of Orleans, with a ' 

 salary of 1200 francs. 



Dumas continued eight years in the service of the Duke of Orleans, 

 and availed himself of his more settled fortune to complete his 

 education by self-culture. The fine library in the palace was open to 

 him, and he read a great deal, and made notes. Ho laboured at his 

 leisure hours in constructing dramatic pieces, and he attended the 

 theatre to study scenic effects. The first play of Dutnas's which was 

 represented was ' La Chasse et 1' Amour,' produced at the Ambigu iu 

 He is said to have had two assistants in composing it, M. de 

 Leuven a:id M. Rousseau. His receipts at that period were so small 

 that, during the seven yean preceding his first success in 1829, they 

 did not exceed 302. a year. Yet with this income of less than 80?. 

 (including his office salary), he maintained his mother and sister for 

 many years, and was perfectly contented and happy. 



The arrival in Paris of Mr. Abbott with a company of English actors 

 in 1827, and the performance of Shakspere's plays, gave a new turn to 

 his fortune. Dumas saw Macready iu ' Hamlet,' . and immediately 

 conceived a new world of ideas. He wrote two tragedies, ' Christine ' 

 and 'Henri III.'; he wrote them entirely himself. When they were 

 liuinhe I, he submitted them to Charles Nodier, who recommended 

 them to Baron Taylor of the The'iUre-Francaig. 'Henri III.' was the 

 first to appear; it was produced with great success, February 11, 1829, 

 the author's receipts exceeding 12002. during the first season, and 

 extending since then to 100,000 francs. The Duke of Orleans, at the 

 wriUT's request, attended with a large party of friends. This dramatic 

 triumph was the first victory obtained by the new romantic school over 

 the claiaic, and was the chief topic of conversation in all public resorts. 

 But it was denounced by the critics as a dangerous innovation. 

 'Chrisliuo' was brought out at the Odcon, March 30, 1830, and was 

 likewise successful. 'Charles VII..' another tragedy, appeared at the 

 same house, October 20, 1831. ' Richard D' Arlington ' was performed 

 fur the first time at the Odcon, December 10,1831. The two last 

 are understood to have been written by his assistants, but were care- 

 fully revised by himself. His gre.a facility in constructing a plot, and 

 conducting the intrigue, as the French call the development of a piece, 

 afforded him unusual resources, and rendered him impatient of minor 

 labour. His knowledge of stage-effect enabled him afterwards to make 

 organic changes in the work of his ablest collaboreteurs. The same 

 may be said of his romance*, in which all the artifices of the drama 

 are constantly obvious. His tragedy of ' Antony ' was rejected at the 

 Tb&tre-Franpuse, and was transferred to the Porte-Saint-Martin, 

 where it was produced. May 3, 1831, with extraordinary success. 

 ' Napoleon Bonaparte,' a six-act drama, was produced at the Oddou, 

 January 10, 1831; 'Tercsc,' a drama, at the Ambigu, February 6, 

 1832; 'Le Man de la Veuve,' a comedy, at the ThiSatre-Francais, 

 April 14, 1382. La Tour de Kesle,' written by Gaillardet, and 

 corrected by Dumas, was produced at the Portc-Saiut-Martin, May 29, 

 1832: it led to a literary controversy, and afterwards to a duel 

 between the authors. The principal of his subsequent plays, for which 

 alone we can find room, are the following : ' Kean,' a comedy, at the 

 Variotcs, August 31, 1836 ; ' Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle,' written con- 

 jointly with Count Wolewski, at the Tbefttre-Francais, April 2, 1839; 

 Lei Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr,' at the same, July 25, 1843; 'Les 

 Mousquetaires,' at the Ambigu, October 27, 1845 ; ' La Reiue Margot,' 

 at the Theatre-Historique iu 1848 ; 'Benvenuto Cellini,' at the Porte- 

 Saint-Martin, 1850; and ' L'Orestie,' a tragedy, altered from Kachylus, 

 represented at the Porte-Saint-Martin, January !, 1856. Dumas has 

 likewise published a aeries of sketchy travels, under the title of 

 ' Impression* de Voyages.' 



Dumaa'a list of romance* is very long, and two of these, ' Let Troix 

 Moosquetairc* ' and ' Le Comte de Monte-Christo,' so far excel his 

 dramatic works as to give a very different character to his literary 

 reputation. The extreme fertility of Dumas has led to the general 

 opinion that he produce* his extensive works with the aid of assistants, 

 great painter sometime* employs other artinU for drapery and 

 background, and even for minor groups and simple figures. ' Les 

 Troi. MoiuqucUires' and ' Moute-Chriato,' forming together twenty 

 volumes, appeared both iu 1S44, but the volumes in that year bearing 

 his name amount to sixty. He is reported to have received the sum 

 of on* million of francs during that year, including bis rights of 

 autbonhip on his former theatrical pieces. 



Duma* began t-, publish his 'Mumoires ' in 1852, and about twenty- 

 seven volumes had appeared in March 1856. Taken collectively the 

 catalogue of his writings is scarcely conceivable for its extent : be 



already speaks of his 1200 volumes. All his writings have the taint 

 of that low standard of morals which renders them unsuited to our 

 English notions. 



DUMAS, ALEXANDRA the son of the preceding, was born in 

 Pari, July 28, 1824. He has already produced twelve tales, or short 

 novels, of which ' Trois Homines Fort*,' which wag publixhrd in 1850, 

 displays moat talent; but his reputation chiefly rests on his two 

 comedies, ' La Dame aux Cainelias,' represented for the first time at 

 the Vaudeville, February 2, 18 62, and his ' Demi Monde,' produced at 

 the Oymiuue in April 1855. Each of these comedies has been per- 

 formed upwards of one hundred nights, and the receipts of both have 

 nearly reached 200,000 francs. The real talent and accurate delineation 

 of manners exhibited by this young dramatist are not to be disputed, 

 but the tendency of what he has written is perhaps still more 

 pernicious than that of his father's productions. 



DUMAS, JEAN liAPTISTE, one of the most celebrated of living 

 French chemists. He was born at Alain, department of Qard, in 

 and studied pharmacy in his native village. In 1814 he commenced 

 his medical studies at Geneva, where bis devotion to the sciences of 

 botany and chemistry attracted the notice of the celebrated De 

 Candolle, professor of botany in that university, who gave him free 

 access to his library and herbarium. He made also the acquaintance 

 of another distinguished Qenevese philosopher, Dr. Provost In con- 

 junction with the httter he performed many experiments, and 

 published many papers on physiological and pathological subjects. 

 These papers attracted so much attention that when M. Dumas went 

 to Paris in 1821, he found that his fame had gone before him, and he 

 received there a very flattering reception. In 1823 he was appointed 

 demonstrator of chemistry at the ficole Poly technique and piofcssor 

 of chemistry at the Athene'e. He shortly after married a daughter of 

 the distinguished chemist Alexandra Bronguiart, and from this time 

 devoted himself exclusively to the study and advancement of chemical 

 science. His attention was early drawn to the subject of organic 

 chemistry, and the vast progress which this department of science has 

 made within the last twenty-five years is indUsolubly connected with 

 the name of Dumas. His researches upon the ethers, the laws of 

 isomerism, the law of substitution, and the atomic weights of 

 elementary substances, stand out as amongst the researches which 

 must moke the 19th century remarkable in the annals of science. 



The papers and works published by M. Dumas are very numerous, 

 and many of them of the highest practical value. His eurlie-t 

 literary labours were principally physiological, and were chiefly 

 devoted to an examination of the blood and muscular fibre, and 

 experiments upon generation. It is however in these papers that we 

 discover that early taste for physiological study that has given so 

 decided a character to his subsequent career as a chemist. la these 

 researches he associated himself with Prevost, and in his latter 

 researches we find his name frequently associated with another cele- 

 brated Frenchman, Uoussiugault. His papers are by far too numerous 

 to enumerate. They have been devoted to such subject* as statical 

 chemistry, the action of heat upon organic bodies, on chemical types, 

 on the true atomic weight of carbon, on the constitution of atmo- 

 spheric air, on the neutral azotised matters of organised bodies, on tlio 

 fattening of cattle and the formation of milk, on the composition of 

 water, ou the combinations of phosphorus, on the oxido of carbon, on 

 isomerism, on the chlorides of sulphur, on the nature of indigo, ou 

 the combinations of hydrogen and carbon, on compound ethers, on 

 ethylo. These are the subjects of some of bis paper*, and the 

 chemist will immediately detect amongst them some of the most 

 important questions that have occupied the minds of chemists duim- 

 the last twenty-five yean. Many of these papers have been collected 

 and published iu a larger work, entitled, ' Kecherches sur la Chimie 

 Orgauique.' He has also published a course of lectures entitled 

 ' Lecons sur hi Philoaophe Chimique.' 



Whilst continually publishing the results of his chemical researches, 

 Dumas has been one of the most active of the public men of Franco. 

 He was one of the founder* in 1829 of the ficolu Centrale des Art* et 

 Manufactures, and one of it* teachers of chemistry. In 1834 alter 

 a brilliant concours ho was made professor of organic chemistry in 

 the Kcole de McMcciue. In his position as teacher he not only 

 exhibited the accuracy of the profound chemist, but by his eloquence 

 he succeeded in attracting large audiences to hi* lectures. Iu 1845 

 he was made president of the Society for the Encouragement of 

 Industry. He lias been often selected by the government of France 

 to report on the various economic questions in which the xcieuce of 

 chemistry was needed for the full development of a subject In 1849 

 he was entrusted with the portefeuille of agriculture and commerce, 

 which oltice he lu.ld till 1851. In this year he acted as vicc-pre-i.l, nt 

 of the Great Exhibition of London. Alter the coup d'etat he became 

 one of the consultative commission, and has since bci n made vice- 

 president of the superior council of public instruction in France. In 

 all movement* which hare had for their object the cxt -union of 

 education and the amelioration of the condition of the people, 

 M. Dumas has been a leading spirit, and few men of science occupy a 

 higher rank iu their own country, and have obtained more widely the 

 admiration and esteem of tint world, than the subject of this notice. 



DUit'iM', PlERKE-kTlKNMvLOUIS, was born at Ouu 

 i July 1769. Hi* father died when he was very young, leaving a 



